Swan

swan

Swan: In danger of nuclear strike, during the gulf war, every citizen in Israel had his own personal gas mask. The fear of the mushroom cloud still affects the conduct of entire nations. The person in the sculpture can be either a scientist or a victim, he is looking at his reflection, a mirror image of himself, facing the terror that he fear but also inflict, the paddle is referring to a petrol stain, a common deadly side effect of the oil drilling wells, a source of wealth for many Nuclear powers which often fund the arms race, but also refers to Narcissus looking at his reflection in a pool of water to worship it

The puddle of black matter is in fact a picture of the sculptures back side immersed in a round epoxy resin cast that was poured on top of the photo and cured, and then glued to the gallery floor, the real sculpture was placed on top of the photo to create the mirror image.